| re: Z, and the spirits |
| [9645] by "RobPfeifer" (92.235.35.212.in-addr.arpa.ip-po)
on Mon 25 Feb 2002 15:28:26
[ reply ] [ up ]
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I think I'm in love.
What kind of car?
Rob
* * *
And now, putting on my serious face:
What, I find myself wondering, are the religious beliefs of the soulful (and occasionally soul-torn) people who inhabit this Last Cereal message board? Be honest - with yourselves. No claiming of default labels because you went to a Christening once, or whatever. What do you really _believe_?
I claim no faith, having looked at many in varying depth. For some, their very ethics repel me. For others, they demand a surrender of judgement I am unwilling to make. I shall not subordinate my decisions of rationality or ethics to a book _unquestioningly_, no matter how good its rules may seem. If they are that good, they don't need my faith, just my understanding.
I want a religion that respects me as a person, a being with my own skills of judgement. I want a religion where the bargains struck are out in the open. Cards on the table. Not one where, beneath the mile-high letters of fire proclaiming "BE GOOD AND GO TO HEAVEN!" one finds the small print reading "And worship me or you'll burn in hell no matter how good you are".
I may have just found it. But these are early days yet, and I'm not going to shoot my mouth off until I'm sure. Or I may just end up deciding that all religions are simply comfort crutches for people unwilling to take the responsibility for their own difficult decisions and end my days happily squatting on the boundary between agnosticism and atheism. Whatever. Now I've been (I hope) adequately provocative, it's your shout.
Rob
And yeah, there's a lot of Christiancentric argument up there. There is a certain inevitability to that given my sociocultural background and upbringing, I fear. It is easiest to speak about that which one knows best. |
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